This invention relates generally to jewelry clasps for coupling ends of an article of jewelry together. In particular, this invention relates to a jewelry installation device in the form of a clamping device adapted for use in supporting and operating a clasp for coupling a bracelet on the wrist of a user.
The use of jewelry has been quite popular in most cultures throughout history and remains popular today. Jewelry is typically worn as an accessory to complement apparel, to make a statement, or merely because it is trendy to do so. The most common forms of jewelry include jewelry which is body piercing, appended to the user's apparel, or draped or fastened about an appendage of the user's person. Necklaces and bracelets are examples of jewelry which drape or fasten about a user's appendage. They may be rigid or pliant but in either case, they commonly comprise a closed loop structure which may be opened to permit the same to be draped about the neck or other appendage of the user. Rigid jewelry is generally easier to open and close than jewelry which is pliant, such as necklaces and more particularly, bracelets which are malleable. Chain necklaces and bracelets, for example, typically have a spring ring at one end and a jump ring at an opposing end. The jump ring is matingly engageable with the spring ring to hold the chain in a closed loop configuration. The spring ring includes a movable section which is normally biased in a closed position and tabs which cooperatively operate to move the movable section to an open position. The jump ring is a ring which is received by the spring ring when the spring ring is in an open position. Once the jump ring is received by the spring ring, the spring ring is closed to retain the jump ring. Operating a spring ring typically does not pose a problem if the chain is a necklace, a belly bracelet, or an ankle bracelet because the user has one hand free to grasp and operate the spring ring and another hand free to grasp and manipulate the jump ring. This is not the case if the chain is to be worn as a bracelet about a user's wrist, however, because the user must grasp and operate the spring ring and manipulate the jump ring all with a single hand. This can be frustrating and cumbersome to the user.